user account desktop is empty

i have a user who was having a problem with program autovue. i logged in to his laptop using domain admin account and fixed the problem. while i was logged in, i realized that c:\documents and settings\username\ was empty.

nonetheless, i fixed the problem he was having with autovue and asked him to log back in. he noticed that some of the files that he saved directly onto his desktop were gone. when i look, c:\documents and settings\username\desktop is empty. and most of his user configuration is gone including the wallpaper he set.

the laptop is running WinXP w/ SP2. please helpe me understand what happened to his user account config.